Can the Rams sign Sam Bradford?
by Ryan Van Bibber on Apr 17, 2010 8:18 AM CDT
in 2010 NFL Draft
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PrintSam Bradford was scheduled to have his pre-draft visit with the St. Louis Rams on April 19, the Monday before the draft, but that meeting got bumped up to yesterday. And now we wait. The actual draft has a few days, but the void will be filled completely with all kinds of rumor and speculation, some informed, some wild guessing.
The report in the PD today strongly insinuates that Bradford will be the top pick in the draft, whether or not it's the Rams that pick him remains to be seen.
Yesterday, we discussed a report claiming that Bradford and his agent, Tom Condon, would not sign a contract prior to the draft, a recent precedent for first overall picks. That may be true, but I'm confident that the Rams, should they make Bradford the top pick, can get a deal done.
First, precedent. Condon represented last year's first pick, Matthew Stafford, a quarterback. So, they have a deal to work off of. Yes, they'll be looking for an increase, but can they credibly ask for something beyond 5 percent of Stafford's six-year, $72 million deal with $42 million guaranteed? I guess they could.
Second, the Rams have a history with Condon and his partner Ben Dogra, who represented last year's second overall pick Jason Smith. That doesn't mean there's no chance for a holdout. This is business, and they have a responsibility to themselves and their client to get him paid as much as they possibly can. They've certainly had clients who did holdout.
And here's where the Colt McCoy talk makes things interesting. Bradford's people know the Rams don't have much leverage. They need a franchise QB, and trading the pick will be hard, despite the rumors. If the Rams really are interested in McCoy they can play the game of brinkmanship, confident that McCoy will be there at #33, forcing Bradford and his agent to settle for a lower pick...and a lower paycheck. It's not much leverage, but it's all they've got between now and April 22.
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Why does this garbage always happen to us
The team won the super bowl 10 years ago, if i were Sam Bradford and essentially my choices were don’t sign and go to Cleveland or sign early and assure myself of St. Louis. Is that even a legitimate question, has Bradford ever visited Cleveland? Not to mention some guy named Mangini (one of the least respected coaches in the league), is the head coach of the Browns. I would feel a lot more comfortable in the direction the rams are headed than the direction the Browns are headed.
I wonder if it's the Rams who are suddenly jittery about committing money
Given the new uncertainty about the ownership situation I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s the Rams who suddenly find themselves unwilling to sign a contract for #1 draft pick money and/or duration and would now rather just sign a larger number of lower draft picks who will presumably sign for less.
WOW summed up my thoughts
I think we have a lot more leverage than people think. It’s about the benjamins but it’s also about going somewhere where you have the best chance to perform.
"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall." - Vince Lombardi
Same shit, different year
Stafford was signed less than 18 hours before last years draft.
You guys are going to hear that the Rams have reached an agreement with Suh/another player the day before the draft. It’ll be leverage to get the Bradford deal done.
Life is a waste of time and time is a waste of life... so lets get wasted all the time and have the time of our lives!
Maybe....
but either way I am not worried about him signing before camp starts (if he is drafted). Stafford’s contract (which Condon negotiated) serves as blueprint plus the traditional annual mark up. If they draft Bradford both sides should already know what to expect.
Baseball season is back - Go Halos!
Schefter
was reporting last night it was $50 mil guaranteed. I’ll hunt for a link.
You don't seem to want to accept the fact you're dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who's the best, with guns, with knives, with his bare hands. A man who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke. In *St. Louis* his job was to dispose of enemy personnel. To kill! Period! Win by attrition. Well, *Steven Jackson* was the best.
good one
I’m sure you remember what they did last year
The blind stares of a million pairs of eyes, lookin hard but won't realize, that they'll never see the C. And when I'm rollin by, you can't see me!
by CoachConnors on Apr 18, 2010 12:55 AM CDT up reply actions
If the Bradford people get hard to deal with it will hurt Bradfords paycheck in the end
The Rams will not be blackmailed trust me ,they will jut go ahead and take Suh and king Sam will not be the over all pick. So they can forget about trying this shit with us,his pay will end up so much less it will make his head spin lol,so why are you people thinking we dont have any leverage over this deal, If we dont take Bradford and we dont deal with another team like the Browns he will end up getting picked 6th or even latter in the first round so were is his big money then, It is to there advantage to deal with the Rams and only the Rams lol ,I think Bradford is a done deal he is our QB lets wish him the best and let Billy work things out
The more I think about Bradford's (really Condon's) position on signing
the more irritated I get. If I were the Rams, I would call Condon and tell him that isn’t acceptable. If they haven’t agreed on a contract by Wednesday afternoon, the Rams will draft someone else and he can see how much he can get for being somewhere between the 2nd and 4th pick (and you will make sure the press knows you made the offer for Bradford but his agent was too greedy and difficult). What’s more, they should actually open negotiations with Suh’s agent and let Condon know that is happening. Bradford can take $45 million guaranteed and $75 million total or we’ll be glad to have Suh. Condon really has very little leverage since Suh is clearly the best player available and anyone would be happy to have him. These agents are ridiculous and the teams shouldn’t let them get away with it.
Condon assumes trade possibilities could unfold true
why sign if another teams wants your client really, really bad?
Curious about as to who Seattle's starter is for the future?
Seems to me, Pete Carrol is going to make waves. He is a showman and he also is offensively a guru in hs own way. So, in addition to Holmgren, Carrol is a possible back ender.
As far as the farm, not in today’s reality would the farm even be possible – so old.
I would say for the Browns to mover up= swap pcks, Rams get the 3 3rd round picks or the 2nd and 2 3rd’s. That is a FAIR trade intodays market. If economy were better, another late round pick would be justifiably fair, but not today. 3 picks and a swap, that’s it!
Seattle has the same option as Cleveland; or, swap the 2 1st rounders for the top overall straight across. Vale wise, it is a FAIR trade too!
Signing Bradford
Heck no don’t sign Bradford before the draft!
1) Pick Bradford on Day 1
2) If McCoy is still there then trade Bradford (if there is a possible trade) prior to the #2 pick and the Rams will have tremendous leverage.
If no one wants to do a deal for Bradford the Rams keep him…no bluffing there. If someone wants Bradford they are gonna need to pay big time and then the Rams get Colt and a top pick from the day before and someones a #2 probably. I just don’t think the Rams can pick a DL at #1 unless he is already signed to a moderate contract compared to the cost of what Bradford will cost.
So if no one wants to trade up
you’ll be happy to draft Bradford and have him hold out for three months or more while Condon demands some obscene deal? Not me. He agrees to a contract before the draft if he wants to go number one overall and get the biggest contract in history for a draft pick. Or we’ll take Suh and Bradford can try to come close to Stafford’s deal from last year as the number two pick. If he wants to give up $5 or $10 million by playing games, I’d accomodate him. We have the leverage now. He’ll have it if we draft him without a contract.
This leverage is shades of gray, not an absolute they have or we have
Every Rams draftee in history has signed after the draft. For some reason, they all found a reason to sign….
Seriously guys, it’s not that big a deal.
The blind stares of a million pairs of eyes, lookin hard but won't realize, that they'll never see the C. And when I'm rollin by, you can't see me!
by CoachConnors on Apr 18, 2010 11:31 PM CDT up reply actions
+1
Agreed – as I mentioned…deal or no deal before the actual pick is made, both parties have the contract guidleines from Stafford’s deal last year (If Sam is the pick). That doesn’t mean the Rams shouldn’t do everything in their power to create more negotiating leverage such as talking with Suh, etc prior to the pick.
But I have always thought that you don’t pass on a franchise QB (if the FO truely believes in the pick) if given the opportunity. IF Bradford is the guy, I don’t think you don’t pick him because you don’t have ink by draft day. You pick him anyway and hammer something out by camp.
Baseball season is back - Go Halos!
The thing that worries me is that Condon was Stafford's agent also,
and they signed early last year. What made him change his mind and not agree to sign early this year when he has another QB probably going #1? The only thing I can think of is that he felt he didn’t get as much for Stafford as he could have, plus this is probably the last year without a rookie salary scale, so he is gonna go for a monster contract this time.
It’s true that there are limits to that strategy, since Bradford wouldn’t want to go back into the draft next year with the salary scale, but he sure could hurt himself and the team this year by holding out as long as Crabtree did.
In any case, as I said in another post, I’ve had my say and I’m gonna stop worrying about it and just watch things unfold. If the Rams don’t listen to me, it won’t be the first time the head of a company didn’t listen to me. I just hope the result is better than what happened in those other cases.
I like the fact that Condon doesn't have a history of holdouts too
and like you pointed out, returning to the draft (while always a dumb strategy) is a completely bankrupt consideration this particular year.
Has anyone ever actually held out and returned to the draft? I can’t recall anyone.
The blind stares of a million pairs of eyes, lookin hard but won't realize, that they'll never see the C. And when I'm rollin by, you can't see me!
Maybe Condon knows the Rams aren't sold on Bradford so why waste his time?
Yes, I actually wore a watermelon on my head during the Rams SuperBowl victory in 2000.
Could be...
doesn’t want to feel like he is being strong armed into a deal before the draft and/or doesn’t want to be used as leverage for a Suh deal.
From a fan pov – I hate agents. From a business pov – I understand agents. If I am an agent – I don’t know if I am willing to get my guy signed before the draft – there are some downsides. Your job is to get the max dollars possible (see: Scott Boras) and if signing before the draft loses your client $1 then it is worth waiting.
Regardless – I still don’t see a holdout if he is picked.
Baseball season is back - Go Halos!
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